Static Reflections: Book 1 of The M... - Chapter 30: Chapter 30

The final phase of training came all too quickly. Though, Nick had always been a swift learner from the beginning. Still, he found himself surprised that all he had to do was train whatever he was about to learn, and then he could finally go on his first mission.
Nick tried to imagine countless times what it could be like and how he would perform, but still, he was always uncertain. He felt eager to get out there and begin going on actual missions.
Stepping into the training room, Nick found that Richard was absent. The hyena turned his head this way and that but found no sight of him. He decided to wait, sitting down against the wall.
This gave him the chance to think about how things had gone recently. That night at the Chinese restaurant felt like a new step for them. Richard hadn't played along with his chicken throwing game, but a slow understanding grew between them.
The food was incredible as always, and Nick tried everything in his power to make Richard laugh. He was still unsuccessful. The raccoon walked him back to the Institute and his room before they parted. The coming days of training had a lighter air to them. They felt more fun, and Nick had a feeling he and Richard were getting closer.
Richard cut off his fond reminiscing by walking into the room and turning his head to find him sitting. "Sorry, I'm late."
Nick shrugged. "Eh. Don't care."
"Is that your favorite thing to say?" the raccoon quarreled.
"I don't care about things that don't matter."
Richard just wrinkled his brows. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, dude. It's a waste of time, otherwise."
Richard sighed, walking over to the wall panel and tapping around. ". . . So. Are you ready for your final phase of training?"
"Yeah," Nick answered resolutely. "Hit me with it."
"I just might," Richard joked. "Because today is darkness training."
"Sounds cool, and I'm ready."
Pressing his digits against the screen with tak tak noises thanks to his claws, Richard slid his finger down along the screen, and the room got less illuminated by the unseen lights until it was as dark as it could be, which was all the way. He was already walking past the white line as he spoke. "Alright, Nicholas. Try and keep up with me."
"What? Just follow you?"
"Yes," the raccoon nodded. Nick got in front of him as the other animal began walking backward. "Now, this is the first darkness test."
The hyena walked after him. "Where do you come up with these things?" Does he honestly not know?
"Oh, before training, I have to read the procedures. It's basically like a checklist of what to teach you."
Nick nodded. "Guess that makes sense."
Richard turned a corner just before hitting the wall and kept on moving. "It's been rather helpful. I can't imagine having to come up with everything myself. I think we'd still be in Phase 1."
Nick chuckled softly. "Oh, Dick. You're better than you give yourself credit for. We'd at least be in Phase 2. Or maybe there wouldn't be phases in your version."
Richard's lips curled into a grin, which Nick caught, thankfully. "Thanks, Nick."
"Mmhm . . ." Nick looked to the right as he continued walking after him. Richard turned right again around the perimeter of the room, and the hyena noted that he didn't even see when he was about to hit the wall. He wondered how he knew.
"Now, for something different. I'm going to raise my hand in different directions. Left, right, up, and down. Your job is to name which direction my hand is."
"From my view or yours?" Nick smirked.
"Yours."
"Alright," Nick exhaled. Richard began moving his hand every which way, and Nick was spot on, naming every direction with precision and accuracy.
The raccoon came to a halt, and Nick almost walked into him. "I must have forgotten that hyenas have excellent night vision . . . ."
"Hahaha," Nick chortled. "I was wondering when you'd notice."
"You'll be great for night and stealth missions," Richard told him.
"I'll be great anyway."
"Mhm," the raccoon nodded. "Anyway, now . . ." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dark fabric of some sort, holding it out.
Nick held it in his hands and blinked. "Uh . . . what is it?"
"It's a blindfold. You must be able to fight while not being able to see."
Nick sighed. "And I thought this was going to be easy . . . ." He wrapped the dark fabric around his head and tied it snugly so it wouldn't fall off. The hyena glanced around. "Yep. Can't see shit."
Richard put a hand on his shoulder. "Good. Now, when I remove my hand from you, I'm going to start moving again. All you have to do is follow my voice. Hearing is going to be your biggest asset when you can't see, of course.
"But you can't hear the wall, and neither can I," Nick pointed out.
"You'll get to my level," Richard answered. "I don't hear the wall. Ready?"
Nick nodded, and Richard's hand slipped off his shoulder. He began walking after him, pushing past the nerves that he was constantly about to run into something.
"Good, good, good . . . ." Richard told him. A few moments later, his voice changed. "Now turn right."
Nick bumped into the wall against the soft mat but quickly adjusted and pursued the sound once more.
"You're veering right," Richard told him.
Nick straightened out, beginning to reach his hand toward the wall.
"No assists. If your hands are tied up, you won't have the wall to help you," Richard explained. "Rely on your hearing."
Nick took a breath and focused on what his ears were hearing and where it was coming from. It wasn't perfect, but he was able to keep up with his raccoon trainer.
The older animal stopped unbeknownst to Nick, and now he did run into him. "Agh! Sorry!"
Richard grabbed his shoulders. "Well done. We'll keep working on that. I'm still supposed to test you on some other things first." His hand moved down to grab Nick's wrist, and he pulled him along to the middle of the room. "We're now standing in the center of the room. You don't need to worry about hitting any walls."
"Great," Nick grinned. "I'm tired of smacking my nose into shit."
Richard exhaled. "I understand. Now, has anyone told you about the creature in Prostasia?"
"C-creature?" Nick tilted his head. "What? You mean the Hold?"
"No . . ." Richard's voice grew quiet. "They haven't told you? That's rather concerning."
"Told me what? What is it?"
"There's a Creature that can enter Prostasia and break past our magic barriers. It can enter members' homes, and it's been reported that if you look at it, you'll die."
Nick gulped, the air growing heavy between them. "That's something I definitely wish they told me."
"I think they're afraid that it will push members away."
Nick clicked his tongue, crossing his arms. "Bullshit. That's bullshit that they'd keep something like that from new members. 'Oh yeah, welcome to the Mortal Guard. Congrats on the training. By the way, there's a creature that can fucking tear you apart if you look at it.'"
Richard's ears went back. "Jeeze, Nicholas."
"The same kind of shit a government would do," the hyena hissed. "Whatever. Have they tried to capture this thing or something?"
"They have never been able to . . . That's why members are required to learn to fight with blindfolds and sleep with them."
"Sleep with them?"
"There's no telling when the creature will come into your home. It's always best to be prepared," Richard explained.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Nick said. "Teach me how to survive that shit."
"Alright, so, just like before, hearing is going to be your best sense when performing blindfolded hand-to-hand combat, along with smell. Try to keep listening to where the enemy is and smell where their movement is coming from. I'm going to punch my right hand forward slowly. Move your head before it gets to you."
The hyena nodded. "Alright. I'm ready."
"On the count of three. One . . . two . . . three . . . ." Richard began slowly moving his fist forward toward Nick's face.
The hyena couldn't quite hear where the punch was coming from, but the smell of raccoon got closer and closer, so he moved his head to the right.
"Excellent. It's as simple as that. The movements stay the same, just faster. When it comes to your head."
"And if they're kicking?" the hyena asked.
"In regards to the Creature, it kills by slitting throats. It isn't known why this is, but that's how most of the bodies are found."
Nick's hand went to his neck, and he swallowed again. "I can see why that would dissuade members. But it's still wrong that they don't tell them until they're indoctrinated."
"Yeah . . ."
"Now, the key to avoiding obstacles while you can't see is the hardest part of this phase of training!" Richard called, standing on the other side of the room.
Nick had his blindfold lifted on his head now. Between him and Richard lay pillars sporadically popping out of the ground. The raccoon had changed the room according to this part of training. "I'm gonna get my shit wrecked!"
"You won't! You can do this! All you have to do is study it carefully. I'm giving you ten seconds. This is training your memory. All you have to do is make your way over to me. You can do this, Nick!" Richard shouted.
Nick soaked in the scene before him, keeping it clutched tight in his mind, noting where each pillar was. "Okay, I'm ready then!"
Richard counted down from ten to one, where Nick pulled down the blindfold and began trying to slalom around each pillar. It wasn't long before he crashed into one.
"That's alright!" the raccoon called. "Follow my voice."
Nick turned to follow it, but now that his orientation had changed, his memory of the scene fell to pieces like broken glass. Yet, he still attempted the feat, running into pillar after pillar. Finally, he pulled up the cloth and realized he was facing the complete opposite direction of where he needed to be going. "Aw, shit . . ."
"It's fine," Richard told him, walking up to the smaller animal. "Go back and try again. Remember, memorize the scene from this angle and how it will change in your mind."
The hyena blinked. "Alright." Another attempt, another failure. The problem was that when Nick collided with a pillar and changed direction, the memory entirely became a jumbled mess in his thoughts. There were too many pillars. Richard's encouragement only revealed to him the direction in which he was standing, as did the manly smell of his Mentor, but it didn't tell Nick where the pillars were, as they made no noise and had no scent.
He went back and tried yet again, with the same result. However, Nicholas Flynn wasn't one to get frustrated at constant error. He never ragequit while playing games, and he wasn't going to rage quit now. After all, it was still the first day of learning this.
It took him a good twenty minutes before he had his first success, and even then, it required a lot of mental notes of where the pillars were. But when he finally reached the raccoon, he pumped his fist into the air. "Fuck yes! I did it!"
"I knew you could, Nicholas," Richard said, a smile evident in his voice.
The hyena slid up his blindfold and grinned back at him. "You know, you're an amazing Mentor. You've really taken your time with me."
"Well . . . you're an outstanding student," Richard told him. "And it's my job to make sure that you're successful in everything you learn because I don't want you to die."
Nick looked between his eyes for a moment as they looked at each other. "Nobody wants to die, Dick."
"I-I know! I'm just telling you that if I trained you and you ended up dying somehow, I'd feel responsible."
Nick put a hand on his cocked hip. "Oh, is that so? It's not because you care about me and don't want to see this lively hyena turned into a corpse?"
For the first time Nick had seen, Richard's cheeks reddened as he became a bit flustered. "Y-yes. . ."
Nick giggled, putting a hand over his muzzle. "So he does have fire behind that ice!"
The raccoon put a hand on his cheek. "L-let's move on." He quickly sped to the panel on the wall. "Come behind the white line!"
After running over, Nick watched Richard change the room again, so different pillars rose out of the floor. There were even more than last time, and Nick's back hunched as he drooped. "Ah, shit, not again."